3
Helpful Review
Fleur Narcotique (Lemon hand wipe remix) turned uuuup
Oh dear, this is a loud scent! Valaya is a cousin to Ex Nihilo Fleur Narcotique, and I love Fleur Narcotique with all its synthetic cleanliness, but this one here is just too much for me. I actually tried this for the first time before I even knew Fleur Narcotique, and it made me a bit suspicious of the original.
This starts out quite peppery and sharp, and then quickly takes a turn into citrus territory. It's fizzy like a soda, sweet like peaches and mandarins, but there is also something about it that reminds me of the packaged lemon towelettes you get in Turkish restaurants after eating. Imagine that mixed with sweet fruits and a huge dose of the persistent musk molecules found in many modern niche fragrances, add a wisp of creamy white florals, and you're pretty close to Valaya. I don't hate lemon towelettes, and there are moments where I enjoy Valaya's freshness, but still... this is not something I want in a perfume, especially not amped up to eleven with strong musky fixatives.
Overall this scent feels cold and harsh to me. It's not scratchy on the throat or anything like that, not quite as obnoxious as Erba Pura or Kirke (sorry to the fans, but these are two scents I just can't deal with!). But it gets on my nerves after a while. Most other female releases by PDM are much more elegant and fine-tuned to my nose. Delina for example is not exactly a quiet scent either, but it feels so much rounder and better blended.
And Valaya just won't go away. I sprayed it on my leg wearing shorts and it still managed to be noticeable on my sweater the next day. It gets reactivated in the shower, so you really have to scrub to get it off. Good for those who love the scent, I guess, but I find it obstructive.
This starts out quite peppery and sharp, and then quickly takes a turn into citrus territory. It's fizzy like a soda, sweet like peaches and mandarins, but there is also something about it that reminds me of the packaged lemon towelettes you get in Turkish restaurants after eating. Imagine that mixed with sweet fruits and a huge dose of the persistent musk molecules found in many modern niche fragrances, add a wisp of creamy white florals, and you're pretty close to Valaya. I don't hate lemon towelettes, and there are moments where I enjoy Valaya's freshness, but still... this is not something I want in a perfume, especially not amped up to eleven with strong musky fixatives.
Overall this scent feels cold and harsh to me. It's not scratchy on the throat or anything like that, not quite as obnoxious as Erba Pura or Kirke (sorry to the fans, but these are two scents I just can't deal with!). But it gets on my nerves after a while. Most other female releases by PDM are much more elegant and fine-tuned to my nose. Delina for example is not exactly a quiet scent either, but it feels so much rounder and better blended.
And Valaya just won't go away. I sprayed it on my leg wearing shorts and it still managed to be noticeable on my sweater the next day. It gets reactivated in the shower, so you really have to scrub to get it off. Good for those who love the scent, I guess, but I find it obstructive.